The last Saturday in August is a strange day when you live somewhere popular with tourists. It is the day when the towns start to regain their ‘normal’ personalities, the roads become quieter, and the numerous events, fairs, medieval days and street parties that carry on through the summer come to an abrupt end. This [...]
During the summer months a lot of towns in France spring into life with festivals, night markets, and various events laid on to amuse both locals and visitors alike. One popular idea both near us and in several other places in France is ‘medieval re-enactments’ where everyone in the town dresses up in ‘olden-days’ costumes, [...]
Too much doom and gloom with all this talk of farming in crisis and Brits who can’t afford to go on holiday, or expats who have to drive thousands of miles to buy their croissants in Tesco? We have the antidote! I’ve mostly given up looking at videos of France on the internet because there [...]
Things must be tough in Britain at the moment – it was reported that in 2009 the number of foreign trips taken was down 15% on 2008 (worldwide, not just to France which ‘only’ suffered a 10% drop) and seven million people from the UK decided to forego their annual holiday. (Previously the biggest drop [...]
Last month I posted photos of some lovely places in France but completely neglected French villages, curious because I spend more time exploring villages than big towns. Time to put things right. It’s a tough choice – I tend to always visit classified ‘most beautiful villages’ when I visit somewhere, but there are lots of [...]
Since I’m away enjoying myself in Morbihan (southern Brittany) this week I though I’d share some thoughts on how Brits can be spotted a mile off when in France, even before we speak – which always gives it away immediately. You get double points if all the below apply to you! 1) Brits wear shorts, [...]
I don’t give much attention in this blog to places in France, an oversight it is time to correct (francethisway being largely a travel site…). I’ve been sorting through the thousands of photos we have collected on out travels and each month, as long as I remember, I will post five picture of places in [...]
I read an interesting article a while ago where people were being asked about their travel plans for 2010, after many had a ‘stay at home’ year in 2009. What people say and what they do are of course usually different but one interesting idea was mentioned a couple of times – people saying that [...]
A while ago I added a pretty cool (well I think so) feature to francethisway that, at the blink of an eye, can tell you the distance between any two places in France (along with a map and route instructions). Try it at France distances finder if you have a moment. The interesting thing is [...]
Everyone likes to publish ‘best of’ lists at the end of a year so we thought we’d best join in. In a rare moment of unity Mrs B and myself have agreed on a shortlist of five places that we visited this year in France that we would be pleased to go back to or [...]
I don’t often mention here what I’ve been up to on the ‘main’ francethisway site but today I’m so excited I can’t stop myself. If you have no interest in France travel please leave the building now. If you are, I might just be able to make your life a tiny bit easier or give [...]
Way back in the mists of time – well, about four years ago – I was part of a group of holiday rental property owners who created a holiday rentals company and website called Your Holiday Matters. The goal was simple – to try and ensure a quality holiday experience for those booking a holiday [...]
One of the big challenges of visiting places and writing about them for possible future visitors is striking a balance - should we be brutally honest if somewhere is, frankly, not all that lovely? What if it was raining when we visited, or we were tired and really it is a very nice place? Likewise if someone [...]
Everyone tells me that discussion forums are nothing but trouble – forum members are rude to each other; spammers sign up just to tell of the delights of via*ra; everyone thinks they know better than everyone else; and worst of all – there is no possibility of ever making a penny from a forum despite [...]
In Provence there are restrictions on access to substantial parts of the countryside during the summer months because of the fire risk, and nowhere more so than in the forested regions around Marseille. The tourist offices in the region hand out leaflets offering good advice – such as ‘don’t park your car in long dry [...]